Yobe govt alleviating hardship through Fadama III recovery process

MUSA M. BUBA reports on the efforts by Yobe state government to alleviate the sufferings of the people in the communities once occupied by Boko Haram, through Fadama III recovery processes.
Without humanitarian aids some may still die of hunger When the Nigerian army reclaimed communities under the control of Boko Haram insurgency in Yobe state, and declared them safe for return of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) back to their communities, there was heightened anxiety among the IDPs to leave the camps and other places of abode where they took refuge. However, the huge destruction of private and public property by the insurgents had also destroyed the socio-economic lives of the people and calls for carefully designed strategies to overcome the challenges and assist the communities to recover their lives.
Providing humanitarian assistance This has moved government agencies, humanitarian partners, local and international NonGovernmental Organizations to providing humanitarian assistance, resettlement and rehabilitation support to the tasking challenge of meeting the needs of the communities effectively and effi ciently, without duplication and over lapping of interventions, misplacement of priorities or diversion of relief materials. The violent reaction of returnees recorded in some cases, was a clear response to misplacement of priority and poor planning by intervention partners. In Buni Yadi, for instance, the returnees pelted a support organization distributing treated seeds for cultivation while the immediate need of the people was to have food, as they returned to their vandalized and empty houses after two years of displacement. The episode was a clear indication that the distribution of treated seeds at that time was a wrong approach to the resettlement, recovery and rehabilitation of the victims of insurgency.
World Bank, FG and Yobe dovt’s intervention The new intervention process introduced by Yobe State Fadama lll Additional Financing ll, under the World Bank food security and livelihood emergency support project, in collaboration with the Federal and Yobe State Governments keys into the overall recovery plan for the Northeast region in their efforts to rehabilitate, resettle and reconstruct the devastated communities and help victims of the insurgency reclaim their means of livelihood. The commitment demonstrated by Yobe State Governor, Alh Ibrahim Gaidam, through the payment of
40 million naira counterpart fund and the enabling environment created has paved the way for the smooth takeoff of the project in the state
40 million naira counterpart fund The project’s key support components include: Food assistance, Livelihood Support and Rural Infrastructural Support for short, medium and long term measures. In addition, mines awareness, capacity building and advisory services which equipped the benefi ciaries with new skills and rekindle hopes to resettle in their localities and engage in economic activities.
Food support programme The food support programme provided the communities with their immediate food needs thus, a short term measure, which goes simultaneously with the livelihood programme providing them with sustainable means of livelihood, just as, infrastructures were constructed under the Rural Intervention programme to propel and fast track economic rehabilitation covering both medium and long term measures of intervention for recovery. Also, the project took into cognisance the need to empower youth and streamline their thoughts into imbibing community selfhelp activities.
This saw the rapid clearance and reconstruction works undertaken by youth in areas declared safe for people to return such as in Buniyadi, Gujba, Bularafa, Bumsa and Goniri, among others, and a token of money given to them through the project’s Cash for Work subcomponent while they equally engage in some environmental sustainability activities to protect their surrounding from degradation. According to the Yobe State Fadama lll Programme Coordinator, Alhaji Musa Garba, the food support package comprised a bag of rice and a 100kg of maize, sorghum or millet based on household choice, in addition to vegetable oil, salt, seasoning and sugar to every benefiting household. While under livelihood, benefi ciaries of irrigation support, were provided with water pump machines and accessories, fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides and improved seeds of rice, onion, tomatoes and pepper among others. “The livestock package, provided the benefiting households with small ruminants of four female goats and a He-goat or, three sheep and a ram or, chicken thirty at point of lay or four week old broilers and thirty each guinea fowl or turkey” he said.
Benefi ciaries Similarly, benefi ciaries of aqua culture were supported with fingerlings, fish feeds and plastic ponds for fish farming. The disaggregation of distribution of livelihoods across communities in Yobe state shows that 901 male and 37 female households benefited from crop production supports, in livestock 2,646 male and 1,584 female households also benefited while 96 and 46 male households were supported with poultry and fisheries packages as well as six and four female households were provided with poultry and fishery supports; indicating at a total support of 5320 in 133 communities benefited from Fadama III AF II supports. Interestingly, 2,000 more households in 50 communities across the local government areas have also been mapped out for another round of intervention and recovery. This was made possible through prudent management of resources that led to savings in the implementation of the first phase of the project in 2017. “we were able to make some savings and the World Bank approved additional supports to 2000 persons in the 17 LGAs, it’s the highest saving by any State in the region which created opportunity to touch more lives ” , Project Coordinator, Garba said. Results emerging from the fadama lll experience show that the Food Support Intervention not only provided immediate meals, but also protected the livelihood support packages including water pump machines for irrigation, the goats, sheep, poultry and fishery for the farmers. It obviously provided security to the livelihood supports and promoted growth of sustainable means of livelihood among the benefi ciaries. Lawan Musa, another benefi ciary of the Programme said he was cultivating rice for the first time, “my future plan is to migrate from other crops to rice farming completely because of the huge benefits.”
According to the State Project Coordinator, 80 households in Mozogum village were supported by the project, out of which 32 received irrigation materials, 41 others received livestock support while, households were provided with poultry and fishery supports. In Bumsa, Gulani local government area, Wakili Kaigama, said “each of the 20 Fadama lll benefi ciaries in this village received a water pump machine, seeds, sprayers, herbicides and pesticides. “Four years after l abandoned my farm due to security challenge, l was opportune to return back to the farm with support from Fadama lll, “Kaigama said. Ali Bukar, a livestock benefi ciary also in Buni Yadi, said his household was supported with three female goats and two male goats which have multiplied with a total of 12 goats now in fl ock.
Infrastructural development The quest for effi cient infrastructural development for effective socio-economic recovery of the communities also became necessary in view of the destructions suff ered by the sector under the reign of terror by the insurgency. Fadama lll adopted a demand driven policy giving the communities the opportunity to choose projects with priority to their recovery. Under rural infrastructure intervention, Fadama lll constructed 157 projects in 133 communities that were successfully completed. These projects include feeder roads, culverts, drainages, market stores and stalls, mini earth dam, grains grinding and processing mill, boreholes and toilets among others. The mini earth dam constructed at Gada village in Nangere local government, harvests the rainfall for irrigation and fishing. The project has also controlled annual fl oods suff ered by the downstream communities. For the benefiting communities, government and non-governmental organizations, the Fadama lll intervention strategy has proved to be a perfect experience with direct and positive impact on the lives of the people. According to NIRA, a Non -Governmental Organization and support partner, “the Fadama lll strategy has become a role model for other government agencies and NGOs in achieving the recovery interventions with utmost success.” It is therefore evident, that the Fadama lll AF II strategy particularly in Yobe is successfully working towards achieving the Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Reconstruction Plan of the State that is aligned to the recovery process of the Northeast region. It has not only given hope to communities affected by insurgency but, also propelled them to key into the recovery process with a new vigour, commitment and ownership to reclaim their lives.

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